Wind – DEME Offshore installs the first turbine at the SeaMade offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea – Renewable Energy Magazine

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Offshore construction of the SeaMade wind farm started in September 2019, with the last foundation installed in January 2020 and in the meantime connected by the subsea cables. DEMEs DP2 offshore installation vessel Apollo will now install 58 Siemens Gamesa 8.4 MW turbines on the monopile foundations.

Apollo loaded the first wind turbine components at the Renewable Energy Base Ostend (REBO), which is used as the marshalling harbour for the pre-assembly of the 58 turbines. From Ostend, Apollo will transport the tower elements, nacelles and blades, with a total weight of 1,000 tonnes each, for installation at the SeaMade site which is about 45 kilometres off the Belgian coast. Apollo features an 800-tonne, leg-encircling crane and an unobstructed, spacious 2,000 m deck with a load carrying capacity of 15 t/m.

After the successful installation of the foundations, offshore substations and subsea cables, the start of the turbine installation campaign brings us another step closer to the production of green energy said Michael Glavind, Business Unit Director DEME Offshore. This is also the first turbine installation project for our offshore installation vessel Apollo, which has just completed a challenging foundation piling project in Scotland. This vessels ability to multitask highlights the versatility of our fleet and our ability to handle all aspects of the most complex offshore wind farms.

Mathias Verkest, CEO SeaMade and Otary, added that the offshore installation of 58 8.4 MW wind turbine generators in both concession areas will turn SeaMade into the largest wind farm in the Belgian North Sea and that SeaMade and Rentel will soon have a combined operational capacity of about 800 MW.

By the end of 2020, SeaMade will be operational with a capacity of 487 megawatts providing green energy for 485.000 households.

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Wind - DEME Offshore installs the first turbine at the SeaMade offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea - Renewable Energy Magazine

An innovative anchor that could help floating offshore wind take hold – Energy News Network

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The concrete anchors borrow a resilient pattern found in the shells of arthropods such as shrimp, crabs and lobsters.

Inspired by mantis shrimp, a team of researchers from Purdue University and clean energy startups hope to use 3D printing to create cheaper and more environmentally friendly anchors for floating offshore wind turbines.

Floating turbines are an emerging option for generating power in deeper water further offshore than wind turbines fixed on the seafloor. While there are relatively few large-scale floating wind farms in operation, experts hope floating turbines could greatly expand the scope of offshore wind, generating power more efficiently where winds are stronger, and where turbines are less visible from land.

Anchors to secure floating wind turbines to the seafloor are typically made from steel. Now, the team at Purdue is working on using 3D printing to create anchors out of concrete as multiple thin layers with a honeycomb or similar design. Stacked one on top of another, the layers create a structure the researchers compare to the shell of an arthropod, like the shrimp, crab and lobster. Those animals shells are inherently fragile, yet surprisingly resilient because their structure prevents cracks from spreading.

Its a pattern that nature found that is very efficient for improving the mechanical properties for what otherwise is a very brittle material concrete, said Purdue civil engineering professor Pablo Zavattieri.

The anchor would gently meld into the seafloor by harnessing water pressure and a suction effect, avoiding the ecological impact and cost of driving piles into the seafloor for fixed wind turbines. The anchor would also be less ecologically disruptive than other floating turbine anchors, the researchers said.

The innovation is toward reducing the capital costs associated with mooring and anchoring the floating offshore wind turbines, said Rick Damiani, founder and principal of the Floating Wind Technology Company, one of the startups involved in the project. That is something thats still holding back the large-scale deployment of floating offshore wind. New solutions would be certainly welcome.

Damiani previously worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with Jason Cotrell, CEO of RCAM Technologies, the startup working with Purdue on the 3D printing portion of the project.

Cotrell added that concrete in general is expected to create more localized jobs than steel because concrete is inherently a regional process with a well-established concrete supply chain in nearly all regions of the country. In contrast, steel anchors are likely to be imported from other states such as the Gulf Coast States or countries with well established offshore steel fabrication supply chains.

The precision and flexibility available with 3D printing means the structure can be designed so the weaknesses inherent in the connection points between layers essentially become strengths, the researchers explained. The design can make sure that cracks in the structure are dispersed so that the energy causing the crack dissipates and the fissure stops.

The preliminary work is very encouraging, explained Jan Olek, a Purdue professor of civil engineering. Were seeing that we can redirect propagation of the cracks and if the interfaces are organized in space in such a way that its a convoluted path for the crack to follow, it takes more energy to actually form the crack.

The team noted that 3D printing is also being explored for onshore wind turbines, offshore oil and gas infrastructure, and buildings more generally. They developed the printing technique proposed for the anchors first using cement paste, and they are now in the process of scaling-up to concrete, which is a mixture of cement mortar and coarse aggregates.

3D printing technology is viewed by many as a waste-free enterprise, Olek said. You deposit the material precisely where you need it. You can be very innovative in your design, you can maximize the material in places it needs to be and minimize it in places where it doesnt need to be.

Zavattieri added that self-healing materials are in the works that could inherently seal or repair cracks, or sense changes in temperature or humidity and react to that. This would be a boon for offshore wind and other energy infrastructure, and such materials would work well with 3D printing.

Damiani said that technology for floating wind turbines thus far has largely been derived from the structures used for offshore oil and gas operations.

But in that industry you can build one-off structures and recoup your costs in a short time, whereas wind cant quite afford that because you need to build several wind turbines for each wind farm, and it takes longer to recoup costs, Damiani said.

Damiani with colleagues at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a floating offshore wind platform called SpiderFLOAT unveiled last year. Its modular concrete beams are constructed through 3D printing, and it could likely use the anchor that is being developed through the Purdue collaboration, Damiani said.

He said such innovations are changing the paradigm of how you design and build these support structures for floating wind. The philosophy has to shift from mimicking offshore oil and gas infrastructure and it is shifting.

The anchor project participants say their multi-disciplinary expertise has been crucial to the works success. Damiani and Cotrell have deep backgrounds in offshore wind, while Purdue is known for its civil engineering prowess and its expertise in concrete, through the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, and the School of Materials Engineering, where Professor Jeff Youngblood is among the leaders of the project.

Mohamadreza Reza Moini, who did doctoral work on the project and will become an assistant professor at Princeton University next year, noted it is a great opportunity to use the knowledge and technology that is becoming more and more available for the advancement of marine energy infrastructure.

The 3D printed concrete suction anchor research is funded through the National Science Foundation and the Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition, which is funded by the Scottish government and run by the Carbon Trusts Floating Wind Joint Industry Project with support from offshore wind developers.

There is still a long way to go before the anchors may actually be launched in the ocean, including testing for stability and other attributes in the lab, then large-scale testing in the environment.

The large water bodies closest to Purdue the Great Lakes arent likely to be among the early sites of the anchors or any floating wind turbines, since ice complicates the situation, Damiani said. But he doesnt rule it out in the future. He worked on the Icebreaker Wind Farm in the works in Lake Erie, where conventional wind turbines fixed to the lakebed will be secured through suction bucket technology similar in principle to the Purdue anchor.

So far it hasnt been done, but I want to think that we can overcome that problem just like has been done for fixed-bottom structures, Damiani said, about the prospects for floating wind turbines in the Great Lakes. Obviously the Great Lakes have a great wind resource and [energy] load centers distributed along the shores. It would make perfect sense.

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An innovative anchor that could help floating offshore wind take hold - Energy News Network

New Jersey announces ‘first-in-the-nation’ offshore wind port – Energy Live News – Energy Made Easy

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New Jerseys Governor Phil Murphy has announced plans to develop the New Jersey Wind Port, a first-in-the-nation offshore infrastructure investment to help build offshore wind farms.

The facility will serve as a hub for staging, assembly and manufacturing of offshore wind projects on the East Coast andcould create more than 1,500 jobs in manufacturing and operations and another hundred in construction.

Governor Murphy, said: Offshore wind is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not only protect our environment but also greatly expand our state economy in a way that has immediate impacts and paves the way for long-term growth.

This is a vital step forward in achieving our goal of reaching 7,500MW of offshore wind power by 2035 and 100% clean energy by 2050.

The project is estimated to cost up to $400 million (319.4m) and will be built in two phases, commencing in 2021.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority will lead the project.

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New Jersey announces 'first-in-the-nation' offshore wind port - Energy Live News - Energy Made Easy

Insurance Giant AIA Wins License for China’s First Wholly Offshore-Owned Life Insurer – Caixin Global

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Whats new: Insurance giant AIA Co. Ltd. has received approval from Chinas top insurance regulator to set up the first wholly offshore-owned life insurance company on the Chinese mainland, according to a government announcement (link in Chinese) on Friday.

The announcement said that AIA will convert its Shanghai branch into a wholly-owned subsidiary. AIA is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed AIA Group Ltd., which is one of the largest life insurance groups in Asia.

Why its important: The approval marks the latest development in the mainlands broader drive to grant overseas investors wider access to its financial markets.

In November 2017, China promised to let overseas investors own up to 51% of any life insurance joint venture, according to a consensus that Beijing and Washington reached during U.S. President Donald Trumps visit to China. Last July, China said that the overseas ownership cap would be abolished by 2020.

What else you ought to know: The insurance regulator has approved Lee Yuan Siong and Zhang Xiaoyu to serve as chairman and general manager of the new life insurer.

Lee, who resigned last year from his position as co-CEO of insurance giant Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., is now AIA Groups chief executive and president. Zhang, also known as Fisher Zhang, is CEO of AIA Groups China business.

The license approval will help accelerate the process for AIA Group to set up new branches across China, which is the fastest-growing market for the group, Frank Yuen, a senior analyst at Moodys Investors Service Inc., said in a note on Monday.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full official announcement in Chinese, click here.

Related: In Depth: How Chinas Freeze on Insurance Licenses Has Impacted the Market

Contact reporter Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com) and editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)

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Insurance Giant AIA Wins License for China's First Wholly Offshore-Owned Life Insurer - Caixin Global

3.4m new addition to world-leading offshore wind cluster completes ahead of time – BusinessLive

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Construction of the 3.4 million base for Grimsbys latest wind farm is complete.

Contractor Tolent has handed over the new build on Royal Dock to Innogys Triton Knoll team.

Once fully fitted out, the operations and maintenance facility will become the long term regional home for a team of skilled technicians and support staff, responsible for maintaining the offshore wind farm for the next 25 years.

Built across almost four acres of quayside, it features an open plan office space, complete with a control room, meeting rooms, canteen and gym, with associated showers and locker rooms, as well as a new warehouse facility that includes a workshop area and storage facilities.

Julian Garnsey, Innogys project director for Triton Knoll, said: Its a great new facility, a great job by Tolent, and represents the start of another exciting phase for Triton Knoll.

With the construction work now complete, we can now look forward to welcoming the team formally into a brand new, purpose-built and dedicated facility that will sit at the heart of our future operations.

This building gives us a great facility from which to strengthen our long term presence in Grimsby, where we are already preparing to receive our first new apprentices later this year, and are recruiting a new and predominantly local team to support the project.

A new radio mast has been installed to enable communications with the projects offshore operations teams, as well as a temporary modular building that is already accommodating the construction team during the current phase of works to build the wind farm.

The second of two offshore substations has just been installed, with export cable laying continuing and monopile and transition pieces also emerging for the 90 9.5MW turbines to be installed next year.

John Currie, regional director for North East-based Tolent, said: We are extremely proud of our teams who have persevered through recent challenging times to ensure this project could be delivered ahead of time for our client.

Our work across the industrial and commercial sectors has seen us deliver award-winning projects across a variety of sub-sectors including warehouse and distribution, manufacturing, energy, waste and offshore. This will be a fantastic addition to our ever-growing portfolio.

Work began last July on what had been anticipate to be a 12-month build.

Final fit-out works are still to be completed, with the building - between ABPs Port Office and Orsteds East Coast Hub - to accommodate a team of people from Innogy, responsible for maintaining the wind farm long term, and the projects lead wind turbine contractor, MHI Vestas.

A total of 70 new jobs are anticipated, with a number already created, including four wind turbine apprenticeship positions.

Once fully operational, Triton Knoll will be capable of generating enough renewable energy for the equivalent of more than 800,000 homes.

It will become the seventh offshore wind farm to be operated from Grimsby, and - with Orsted's Hornsea Two also entering construction - will take the town to almost 5GW of installed capacity.

J-Power and Kansai Electric Power have bought in as project partners.

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3.4m new addition to world-leading offshore wind cluster completes ahead of time - BusinessLive

Taiwan to auction 5 GW of offshore wind in three phases – Riviera Maritime Media

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RCG Taiwan director Raoul Kubitschek said the first auction, for 1 GW of capacity for 2026 would take place in Q2 2021. The second auction, for a further 2 GW of capacity for 2027/28, will take place in Q2 2022 and the third auction, for another 2 GW for 2029/30, will take place in Q2 2023.

Mr Kubitschek said, There is still public discussions to be had about the proposals and said it is unlikely that the Taiwanese Government will achieve economies of scale with such an approach.

Offshore Wind Consultants analyst Howard Hu told OWJ, The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) held the first public hearing on 19 June, to announce details of the first draft of Round 3. The MOEA aims to finalise the rule in Q4 2020.

Mr Hu said the plan would prioritise offshore windfarms located in water depths of less than 50 m and a two-phase review of projects would take place. The first phase would take the form of a qualification review looking at environmental impact assessments, technical and financial capability of the proponents of projects and localisation commitments. The second will take the form of price bidding with a potential price cap applied. It is expected that project size will be limited to a maximum of 0.5 GW per project and 2 GW per developer.

Mr Hu said developers feel that insufficient capacity is being released for localisation at a level that the Taiwanese authorities would like to see. Developers would like to see a one-time, larger release or a change of capacity sequence to 2 GW plus 2 GW plus 1 GW, he suggested.

Asia Wind Energy Association board member Edgare Kerkwijk said, It is good to see that the government is keeping its promise about 5 GW more offshore wind. It shows that Taiwan is committed to further building out its offshore wind capacity and to become of the leading offshore wind country in the region.

Until the announcement late last year, there was a lot of uncertainty among developers and investors. A clear path has now been set for Taiwan to go beyond 10 GW of installed capacity.

This will also strengthen the commitment of companies like Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and MHI Vestas, who are building facilities in the country which could act as regional supply bases in the future.

Mr Kerkwijk confirmed that there is a bit of rumbling in the industry regarding the fact that the 5 GW is going to be auctioned in three phases.

Many had hoped that it would be auctioned in one go, all 5 GW, he said. However, the size of each of the auctions, 1 GW, 2 GW and 2 GW, is sufficiently sizeable to keep developers and investors interested.

The plan also shows that the government is being careful in its approach and doesnt want to make mistakes. I suspect that the reason for the staged approach to auctions is that the government wants to see earlier commitments fulfilled that is, projects that have already been awarded and that it expects to obtain lower prices in subsequent auctions.

Taiwan is following a similar approach to other countries who use annual auctions to achieve their long-term targets. Taiwan is no different to many others. Economies of scale are still able to be obtained between projects and developers. All in all, I believe the announcement is an important step for the continuous growth of the Taiwanese and regional offshore wind market.

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Taiwan to auction 5 GW of offshore wind in three phases - Riviera Maritime Media

FERC schedules technical conferences on carbon pricing, offshore wind integration challenges – Utility Dive

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Dive Brief:

Federal regulators on Thursday announced they would hold two technical conferences based on issues raised by stakeholders one on carbon pricing and one on whether current grid operator frameworks are suitable for offshore wind integration.

Transmission development company Anbaricfiled a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission against the PJM Interconnection last November, asking the commission to find that PJM's transmission interconnection procedures deny meaningful access to offshore wind and similar remote generation technologies. FERC dismissed the complaint, but agreed to hold a technical conference to explore the issue more.

The commission also announced it would host a commissioner-led technical conference on carbon pricing, in response to a request from competitive power suppliers, clean energy advocates, the gas industry and others. "When such a broad group of voices asked the commission to convene an exchange of ideas, I think it's important that we do so," FERC Chair Neil Chatterjee said during the meeting.

Commissioners were broadly in consensus on the importance of the offshore wind and carbon pricing conferences during Thursday's monthly open meeting.

"The fact that we're going to be having a technical conference on how to develop offshore wind and the transmission issues involved with it is very important," Commissioner Bernard McNamee said during the meeting, echoing comments from Commissioner Richard Glick, the lone Democratic appointee on the commission.

Glick said he agreed with the commission's decision to dismiss the Anbaric complaint, but said key questions related to offshore wind and transmission "warrant further investigation." Specifically, he pointed to Anbaric's argument that transmission planning under the eastern regional transmission operators' jurisdiction and elsewhere should plan transmission ahead of offshore wind deployment, to avoid expensive and inefficient development.

"Offshore platform transmission projects, where the transmission is built in anticipation of generation, may be the most efficient approach for accommodating the growth of offshore wind," said Glick. "I commend Chairman Chatterjee for noticing a technical conference to explore whether existing RTO [and]ISO frameworks can accommodate this anticipated growth."

As more eastern states set large offshore wind goals, having a system to minimize costs as well as environmental harm to the ocean, and maximizing efficiency is essential, Anbaric argued in its complaint. On land, the grid already exists and is relatively easier to connect to, but things are "very different" with the ocean, Theodore Paradise, senior vice president of transmission strategy and counsel at Anbaric told Utility Dive.

"We're talking about tens of gigawatts across the Atlantic seaboard to start to meet some of these targets in the near term, not really that many years out," he said. "You can't just run a radial to each wind farm. It's super expensive, that's a ton of cables, kind of spaghetti on the ocean floor, as some people describe it. environmentally, it's kind of a disaster which is ironic because that's what you're trying to avoid."

Overall, the company is pleased with the commission's decision to hold a technical conference, and Paradise says it could lead to a rulemaking process that would address their initial complaints with PJM. "Getting to the technical conferences is a really good outcome from today," he said. Offshore wind advocates were pleased with the move as well.

"FERC's initiative to take a holistic look at how offshore wind can be better integrated in organized markets is forward-thinking, given the significant growth expected for the U.S. offshore wind industry in the near future," Laura Morton, senior director of policy and regulatory affairs for offshore at the American Wind Energy Association, said in an email to Utility Dive.

Offshore wind stakeholders have also criticized the commission for its December order directing PJM to adopt a minimum offer price rule for all new generation that receives a state subsidy, which most analysts agree is likely to raise the prices for offshore wind and make it more difficult for the resource to compete in the wholesale capacity market.

Chatterjee on Thursday told reporters that the decision to hold the technical conference was directly related to the anticipated growth of offshore wind, but that the two issues are related in that the conference and the MOPR "are similarly forward looking."

"I've always been a big believer in renewables and their ability to compete in the marketplace if given the chance. But if you don't have a competitive marketplace then all generation types, including renewables, will be harmed in the long run," he said.

FERC also announced it would examine carbon pricing more closely through a technical conference, as was requested by a diverse array of stakeholders, including NextEra Energy, Vistra Energy, Calpine, the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Natural Gas Supply Association, Advanced Energy Economy and others. The coalition applauded the commission's move in a statement.

"Carbon pricing in organized markets could be a powerful and cost-effective tool to drive down emissions and achieve state policy goals while preserving the benefits of competition," the group said. "There is overwhelming support for a FERC-led conference on carbon pricing from all corners, including state regulators."

The group first wrote to FERC in April, asking the commission to examine more closely how the policy could help states reach their clean energy goals. Chatterjee said he expects the conference to be a "lively exchange," and will likely include discussions over whether FERC even has the legal authority to implement carbon pricing.

"Certainly some of my colleagues will be raising those questions," he said.

The staff-led offshore wind technical conference will be held Oct. 27 and the commissioner-led carbon pricing conference will be held Sept. 30.

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FERC schedules technical conferences on carbon pricing, offshore wind integration challenges - Utility Dive

As Offshore Wind Projects Pile Up, Glimmers of Progress on the State and Federal Level – CT Examiner

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Since Dec. 12, 2016, when the four of five offshore turbines at Block Island Wind started spinning (the fifth briefly malfunctioned and was soon fixed) the 30-megawatt electricity producer has been the only commercial wind farm in operation in the coastal waters of the United States.

But that could change quickly or slowly.

Sixteen projects slated for the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Massachusetts are now on the books at the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management known familiarly as BOEM in various stages of planning and approval.

For many states on the East Coast, offshore wind is integral to plans to achieve carbon neutral energy production.

In the case of Connecticut, in September 2019, Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order mandating that the state end its dependence on fossil fuels for its energy supply by 2040. For Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, the goal is 2050. In Virginia, its 2030.

Among several companies working through the lengthy application and permitting process, Vineyard Wind, a renewable energy development partnership with offices in Boston and New Bedford, has already taken a leading role in Connecticuts energy plans.

In a possible breakthrough, on June 12, with the release of a supplement to a draft environmental impact statement, BOEM advanced a $2.8 billion, 800-megawatt, 84-turbine project, known as Vineyard Wind I, into a required 45-day public comment period before federal environmental approval. The process will include five online public meetings.

Developers claim that the wind farm, located in a wind lease area off Marthas Vineyard, will generate cost-competitive energy for more that 400,000 customers across Massachusetts.

That project had been delayed since last August when BOEM withheld a key permit approval, expected last July, citing the need for an additional environmental review. The project was scheduled for completion in 2022.

On Friday, another Vineyard Wind project, the 804-megawatt Park City Wind project based out of Bridgeport, came before the Public Utilities Regulatory Agency, or PURA, for a three-hour public hearing that was continued in executive session during the afternoon.

The project will produce significant economic development benefits to [Bridgeport], including $890 million of project expenditures in Connecticut, almost 3,000 direct jobs and the saving of $2.2 billion to ratepayers over the life of the project, said Alan Hannah, deputy CEO of Vineyard Wind, during the PURA zoom meeting on Friday.

In December 2019, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection selected the Park City Wind project over two other bidders Mayflower Wind and Constitution Wind for the next phase of renewable energy projects for the state. That decision trimmed expectations for a possible wave of economic development for southeast Connecticut from renewable energy.

The turbines will be located in the federally-designated 160,000-acre lease area OCS-A 0501, located on the outer continental shelf south of Marthas Vineyard.

In a 2019 white paper touting offshore wind development, Tony Appleton of Burns McDonnell, an engineering, construction and environmental consulting firm, based in Kansas City, Missouri, divided potential ports vying for slices of wind energy into four types: ports with manufacturing facilities, ports that manage construction, ports where turbine components are assembled and ports for ongoing operations and maintenance.

According to Appleton, Size, location, depth and the ability to handle the weight of equipment are all key considerations as various ports along the Eastern Seaboard compete for more or less lucrative roles in an industry estimated in a 2019 report by University of Delawares Special Initiative on Offshore Wind at 20 gigawatts of energy production worth $70 billion.

Clearance is another key factor. Many ports along the Eastern Seaboard are constrained by bridges with vertical clearances lower than the latest turbine technology that is assembled on land and shipped upright at a height of 850 feet for installation.

With open access to Long Island Sound, Bridgeport will meet many of the criteria for offshore wind once it is redeveloped.

Vineyard Wind plans to locate an operations and maintenance hub at Barnum Landing, an 18.3-acre industrial waterfront parcel in Bridgeport, in partnership with McAllister Towing and Transportation Co., Inc., a company specializing in marine transportation. The property is also expected to be used as a turbine assembly and staging area that will include steel fabrication.

State Pier in New London is similarly unconstrained and could serve as a base for turbine manufacturing or assembly.

In addition to State Pier, rsted and Eversource have a number of other 50/50 ventures in the works, including Revolution Wind that will provide 400 megawatts to Rhode Island and 304 megawatts to Connecticut, and South Fork Wind, a 132-megawatt project, located 35 miles east of Montauk Point on Long Island. Another 50/50 venture is Sunrise Wind, an 880-megawatt project, also located east of Montauk Point, with support from Con Edison and New York Power Authority.

With the support of the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), rsted is also developing Ocean Wind, a utility scale 1,100-megawatt project, to be located about 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey.

rsted also boasts Skipjack Wind Farm, a 120-megawatt project located 19 miles off the Delaware-Maryland-Virgina coast, coming online at the end of 2023.

rsted is also supporting the engineering procurement and construction of two 6-megawatt wind turbines, part of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project owned by Dominion Energy.

In development as 50/50 ventures between rsted and Eversource are Bay State Wind, a 2-gigawatt project to be located 25 miles off the south coast of Massachusetts, and Constitution Wind, specified for 65 miles off the coast of New London.

In a joint venture, rsted and PSEG also formed Garden State Offshore Energy, LLC in 2007, which holds the BOEM lease OCS-A0482, a 96,000-acre site.

In Massachusetts, Mayflower Wind Energy LLC, a joint venture of Shell and EDP Renewables, won the rights to the lease area OCS-A 052 in December 2018. The companys bid for a 804-megawatt project was accepted by Massachusetts in a second round of offshore bidding.

Equinor, an energy company headquartered in Norway, is developing Empire Wind, an 816-megawatt project 20 miles south of Long Island, as well as Beacon Wind, a 128,000-acre lease in the federal waters off Massachusetts.

In Maryland, U.S. Wind, which is owned by the Italian firm, Renexia S.p.A., and a subsidiary of Toto Holding Group, is developing Marwind, a 248-megawatt project about 20 miles east of Ocean City.

As these energy projects get underway, various states are competing for opportunities in the offshore wind energy supply chain along the so-called East Coast Wind Belt.

The New Jersey Wind Port, a recently announced state plan for a purpose-built 200+ acre development project aims to position the state as a hub for the US offshore wind industry.

The two-phase project will designate 30 acres on the eastern shore of the Delaware River for a turbine assembly and staging area, with an additional 25-acre component manufacturing site and another 160 acres for marshaling and manufacturing space.

In October 2019, Vineyard Wind announced a partnership with Marmon Utility LLC to create the first Tier 1 offshore wind supplier in the United States. In the agreement, Seymour-based Marmon will invest up to $4 million in equipment upgrades and personnel to manufacture Kerite cables for the Park City Wind project.

Vineyard Wind has committed to selecting the Kerite brand for at least 50 percent of the project.

The partnership between Vineyard Wind and Marmon Utility to establish the first American Tier 1 Offshore Wind Supplier in Connecticut is an incredible opportunity for the state to truly develop a world-class offshore wind industry, boasted Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Thaaning Pedersen, in a release. Todays announcement is an exciting step in the right direction but it is only the beginning. Similar to the aerospace sector, we believe that manufacturers all over the state can be a part of this emerging industry, creating long-term jobs and economic opportunity for Connecticut residents.

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As Offshore Wind Projects Pile Up, Glimmers of Progress on the State and Federal Level - CT Examiner

Green giants exit, US offshore tradewinds and hydrogen steps on the gas – Recharge

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The CEOs of two of the biggest names in global renewable energy headed for the door this week.

First to announce his departure was Henrik Poulsen of Orsted, who will leave the offshore wind giant by February next year at the latest.

The resignation of the fossil-to-wind trailblazer prompted an outpouring of tributes from normally hard-bitten financial analysts, who hailed his transformational role at the Danish group.

Poulsen was non-committal over his future plans, but confirmed they don't include leading the energy transition of another oil and & gas group.

The second high-profile exit was Markus Tacke at Siemens Gamesa "by mutual agreement". Unlike Poulsen, Tacke won't be hanging around until a successor is found the turbine OEM immediately named offshore chief Andreas Nauen as his replacement.

Recharge spent the latter part of last week providing comprehensive coverage of US Offshore Wind 2020 Virtual, as official news provider to the high-profile industry event.

You can read all the great news, analysis and interviews from the conference at our special virtual newsletter page here.

But Recharge kicked-off the proceedings in style with two exclusive in-depth articles a long-read interview with Thomas Brostrm, the North America chief of Orsted, and a feature on the transmission challenges facing US offshore.

Hydrogen is never far from the energy transition headlines, with global players descending on the emerging sector from all directions.

This week it was the turn of utility giant RWE, which said it may kit-out a new LNG terminal to accept green hydrogen, and oil & gas player Repsol, which wants to use the gas in synthetic fuels.

Even the nuclear sector is getting in on the act, and a report from a UK government-backed agency warned that the nation may need nuclear hydrogen to hit its stretching net-zero ambitions.

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Green giants exit, US offshore tradewinds and hydrogen steps on the gas - Recharge

Lendy bosses have assets frozen amid offshore investigation – P2P Finance News

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Liam Brooke and Tim Gordon the directors of collapsed peer-to-peer platform Lendy have had their assets frozen while administrators investigate suspicious payments to an offshore account.

In the latest investor update, Lendy administrator RSM revealed that it was looking into 6.8m in payments made to entities registered in the Marshall Islands.

Although the money was said to have been spent on marketing services, RSM said that it is the administrators positionthat these payments were ultimately for the benefit of Liam Brooke and Tim Gordon.

On 1 June 2020, RSM applied for a worldwide freezing injunction to be granted over the assets of both Brooke and Gordon, as well as proprietary injunctions on the properties owned by companies linked to the directors RFP Holdings Limited and LP Alhambra Limited. The injunction was granted three days later.

Read more: Lendy investors face prolonged recovery process

Proceedings have now been commenced against Liam Brooke, Tim Gordon, RFP Holdings Limited and LP Alhambra Limited, RSM confirmed in the latest administrators update.

Owing to the nature of these claims, the joint administrators are unable to provide further information at this time. The joint administrators are continuing to investigate the affairs of the company.

RSM also revealed that it has now interviewed Brooke and Gordon, as well as carrying out reviews of the companys books and records, performing detailed analysis of the companys bank statements and reviewing the results of key word searches of approximately 480,000 company emails.

Read more: P2P administrations face delays due to Covid-19

These investigations have revealed a number of discrepancies in the companys accounts. Solicitors Pinsent Masons have been advising RSM on any legal action that may be required.

Earlier this year, RSM received court approval to extend the Lendy administration process by three years, due to the complex nature of the administration process and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the period covered since appointment, the joint administrators have incurred significant time costs in managing the wind down of the loan book, said RSM in the latest update.

As previously advised, the loanbook has proved to be in a considerably worse state than was immediately apparent on our appointment.

As a result, the process to realise secured assets has been more complex, difficult and time-consuming than was first envisaged. It has become apparent there were significant issues in Lendys underwriting and administration processes, which has contributed significantly to the complexity of the wind down and directly led to an increase in costs. As an example, on multiple cases there is a range of litigation directly linked to the historical Lendy practices.

Lendy went into administration on 24 May 2019 with a loanbook valued at 152m. Just under 17m has been realised to date.

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Lendy bosses have assets frozen amid offshore investigation - P2P Finance News

What has Shanghai FTZ Done to Support and Revitalize Offshore Trade? – China Briefing

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On April 29, 2020, Volvo Construction Equipment (CE) signed a memorandum with the government of Pudong New District, Shanghai, which signaled the official movement of Volvo CEs Asia headquarters from Singapore to Shanghai. This is believed to be a result of Shanghai Free Trade Zones (FTZ) endeavors to promote offshore trade businesses.

Offshore trade, or documentation processing trade, refers to a trade model in which the goods are transferred directly from the exporting country to the importing country without entering the border of the middle country where the contracts, payments, logistics, insurances, financial arrangements, as well as other trading documentations are processed in.

For example, in 2019, Volvo CE shipped two excavators to Nigeria directly from its manufacturing subsidiary in South Korea. In this transaction, the equipment did not enter China, but Volvo CEs Shanghai subsidiary handled all the paperwork, including accepting the order and signing the contract, getting the deposit and the final payment, arranging the production and the later logistics, insuring the goods and settling the tax, etc.

In offshore trade, the subsidiary in the middle country actually plays the role of centralizing and allocating the resources of the supply chain, which in not only good for improving the host countrys role in global trade, but also implies greater tax benefits. Meanwhile, the huge capital turnover in offshore trade can nourish the financial sector and make it more prosperous.

Given this, offshore trade has always been welcomed by major free trade hubs, such as Hong Kong and Singapore. However, it was underdeveloped in Shanghai and other mainland cities, mostly due to the strict regulatory controls.

The customs and the foreign exchange authorities had long held on to the idea that it is hard to determine the authenticity of offshore trade, considering the exporting and importing parties are located outside of China, and the goods, capital, and trade documentation are all separate from each other under this trade model. As fabricated transactions can be very harmful to a countrys economic order and foreign exchange market squeezing the capital from real economy, accelerating the imbalance of international payments, and encouraging unreasonable investments in foreign exchange authorities in China tended to be very cautious and strict towards offshore trade transactions.

In fact, since 2012, Chinas State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has released several administrative documents to exert greater control to foreign exchange in offshore trade and combat fake transactions. In particular, in 2016, the SAFE issued the Notice on Further Facilitating Trade and Investment and Improving Authenticity Check (Huifa [2016] No.7), requiring the bank to review the contract, invoice, transportation documents, and the ownership license of the offshore transactions one by one. Enterprises who failed the reviews would not be able to receive money or make payments.

This strict scrutiny made it hard to do offshore trade business in China where payments and settlements were slow. In the past, many well-established companies engaged in offshore trade have had to shift to Singapore or Hong Kong.

The development of offshore trade is in line with Shanghais ambition to play a bigger role in global finance and become an international trade center.

After years of strict control, offshore trade was brought back into attention again when China planned to build Shanghai FTZ into a first-class free trade port.

In 2017, when the draft plan of Shanghai free trade port was released, offshore trade was listed as one of the top targets to promote.

On October 31, 2019, Shanghai FTZ announced seven preferential policies for offshore trade companies, at a conference about promoting the development of offshore trade business.

Some of the above policies have already been put into practice.

On April 13, 2020, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Offshore Trade Service Center was officially launched in Waigaoqiao Bonded Area, Shanghai, which signified that the development of offshore trade has entered the fast track.

So far, 47 companies are reported to have enjoyed preferential foreign exchange policies in offshore trade businesses.

According to the official news, the next step is to put the financial support into place and reduce the tax burden on offshore trade businesses.

In the current promotion of offshore trade in Shanghai FTZ, more and more companies engaging in offshore trade are expected to set up as a legal entity in the zone or move their regional headquarters here, like Volvo CE.

However, companies are still advised to get themselves familiar with Chinas regulatory environment and pay close attention to the policy changes now and in the future. In this way, they can stay agile while avoiding compliance and financial risks. For further information orassistance in China, please email us atchina@dezshira.com.

About Us

China Briefing is written and produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The practice assists foreign investors into China and has done so since 1992 through offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Please contact the firm for assistance in China at china@dezshira.com.

We also maintain offices assisting foreign investors in Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, The Philippines, Malaysia,Thailand, United States, and Italy,in addition to our practices in Indiaand Russia and our trade research facilities along the Belt & Road Initiative.

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What has Shanghai FTZ Done to Support and Revitalize Offshore Trade? - China Briefing

Things to consider when looking for an offshore jurisdiction – Yogonet International

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O

ffshore jurisdictions remain popular for all manner of businesses. Holding companies, asset management, iGaming, blockchain and bitcoin, and even forex are popular sectors for offshore incorporation and operation. But how do you go about picking the right one? It is not as simple as choosing which one you think, superficially, is the best option. You need to dig deep and take a considered decision as to which will be the best fit for you, your company, and your ongoing requirements.

How much will it cost?

One of your key considerations is likely to be how much it will cost you to operate in an offshore jurisdiction. First, you need to take into account the setup costs and then any fees for ongoing maintenance. Additionally, if you are setting up a company you should note additional expenses such as compliance with permanent establishment and/or economic substance requirements. These are just some of the things you need to ascertain before making any concrete decisions on where you will base your business.

Is it a stable jurisdiction?

When choosing the right location, you should aim for one that is politically, socially, and economically stable. It is all very well and good enjoying fiscal benefits and low operating costs but if the economic outlook is poor and the political system is volatile, you will soon encounter issues.

Being in an unstable jurisdiction can make it difficult to conduct short and long term planning. It can also impact relationships with partners and third parties. Choosing a location with a good all-round climate facilitates strategic planning and the smooth running of your business. An additional bonus of stability is not having to worry about currency fluctuations or issues when it comes to remitting profits and revenue elsewhere.

What about Tax?

How much tax you will pay in your jurisdiction of choice is a very important matter. This will directly impact how much of your business income remains yours and how much you can remit elsewhere.

The best-case scenario is to find a place with a zero or low-rate of tax that is not blacklisted. Many jurisdictions have favourable fiscal incentives but are still in line with international best practices.

Is it reputable?

If you pick a jurisdiction with a bad reputation or that is blacklisted, it will severely impact your ability to conduct business. Your reputation is worth more than the money you could save on a zero tax rate or cutting corners. Finding a jurisdiction that has a good reputation and offers you the benefits you want is attainable, with some professional guidance.

Is my confidentiality protected?

Different jurisdictions have different levels of confidentiality that are afforded to those operating there. Information sharing, details of Ultimate Beneficial Owners, and annual or periodic filings are just some things that vary depending on where you are located.

Depending on your business and requirements, you need to decide what level of privacy you want and then pick a jurisdiction accordingly. However, in our view, all jurisdictions will become transparent eventually.

Is it suitable for my needs?

Not every offshore jurisdiction is suitable for every business. As an example, not all are geared up for efficient tax planning and some dont have legislation to properly handle asset management. Furthermore, some might be good for tax and assets, but may not be good for the nature of your business.

Before deciding, you need to consider several factors including filing obligations, capital requirements, tax, nominee and disclosure requirements, audits, incorporation times, and other regulations, statutes or policies. This list is not exhaustive and there are many other considerations you should be aware of before taking the plunge.

Can I find the right professional partner?

Not all corporate service providers are created equally. Some are better than others and have different priorities when it comes to working with clients. You should look for a provider that has experience in all of the jurisdictions you consider, and that works with a large network of international partners. Experience in your industry or sector is also important.

It is also recommended to ask for detailed quotes when inquiring about company formation services as many service providers won't even include the most basic incorporation documents to offer you an incredibly low price. However, you will need to pay those additional/hidden fees later on. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Beware of hidden fees and unnecessary charges and instead opt for custom turn-key packages that are designed to incorporate all of your needs.

The last word

Offshore incorporation and other business activities is not a matter to be taken lightly. After all, it can impact every aspect of your business. Taking the advice of a professional with an extensive track record of working in the offshore sector is the first step towards ongoing success.

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Things to consider when looking for an offshore jurisdiction - Yogonet International

Offshore Oil and Gas Market Research Report Insights and Forecast 2020 to 2025 – Cole of Duty

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Offshore Oil and Gas Market report is segmented on the basis of type, service type, application, and region & country level. Based upon type, offshore oil and gas market is classified into liquefied natural gas, heavy crude oil, and light crude oil. On the basis of service type, the market is classified into directional drilling, logging while drilling, measurement while drilling, offshore contract drilling, and subsea production and processing. On the basis application, the market is classified into a deep water drilling, shallow water drilling, and ultra-deep water drilling.

Offshore Oil and GasMarket is valued at USD 86,900 Million in 2018 and expected to reach USD 151.851 Million by 2025 with CAGR of 8.3% over the forecast period.

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Market Analysis ofOffshore Oil and Gas-

Offshore oil and gas is the extraction and drilling process of natural gas and oil from below the oceans floor. Natural gas and oil are extracted through the wells and then transferred by pipelines and ships to refineries. In 2013, the industry has faced a downfall in the price due to major environmental disasters which have taken place in Mexico in 2014 i.e. Oil Spill in the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Of Mexico. However, it has been observed that the oil & gas sector is recovering. The global infrastructure and economies highly depend on the petroleum-based products which have led to an increase in the worlds dependence on oil and gas. It has been estimated that the world production of oil and gas is expected to increase because of growing demand which may result in the shrinking of the global economy and availability of oil.

The developing countries like China, Russia, and Brazil are increasing production and exploration efforts. However, geopolitical deliberations such as the ongoing dilemmas in Iran, Qatar, and Venezuelas exit from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hugely influence oil and gas supply. The trend of alternative and renewable energy is another threat to traditional oil and gas companies coupled with the rise in governmental pressure and pro-eco legislation has the industry is under more scrutiny than ever. Electricity producing from offshore wind and solar power plants has increasingly become cost-effective and cheaper. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, over 80% of newly commissioned renewable energy will be cost-effective and cheaper than new natural gas and oil sources. These factors are expected to hamper the growth of offshore oil and gas market.

The regions covered in this offshore oil and gas market report are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. On the basis of country level, the market of Offshore Oil and Gas is subdivided into U.S., Mexico, Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Italy, China, Japan, India, South East Asia, Middle East Asia (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt) GCC, Africa, etc.

Key Players

The major players operating in the offshore oil and gas market are BP, ExxonMobi, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, ConocoPhillips, Eni, Petrobras, Statoil, CNOOC and Others.

The Reduction in Price of Crude Oil and Recovery of Offshore Sector are the Major Factors Driving Factors for the Growth of this Market

The oil and gas industry will continue to manipulate the politics and international economics, particularly in the U.S. the level of employment in the sector as more than 10 Mn jobs, are supported and depend on the oil and gas industry. Recently, there has been a recovery in the industry as it enters its third year. The growth is predicted to increase at a significant rate due to increased upstream production which will continue to have a positive effect for midstream businesses. The crude price has also become stable at around $50/barrel. Additionally, 1 million jobs are estimated to be made in 2019 and the number of active drilling rigs has increased to more than 780 as compared to previous years which were 591 in the U.S. The UK offshore sector is also expected to recover as there are planned 16 greenfield projects with recognized development plans and around 29 greenfield projects is estimated to start production between 2019 and 2025.

Middle East and Africa is expected to be the Most Prominent Market for the Offshore Oil and Gas.

Geographically, Offshore Oil and Gas Market report is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. The Middle East and Africa are expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. The increasing growth is mainly because this region has the highest production of natural oil and gas which export to the other region and countries as well. It has been estimated that around 30 Bn barrels are consumed each year, globally, mainly by developed economies. Oil also accounts for major energy consumption share regionally, Europe and Asia account for 32%, North America with 40%, Africa with 41%, and South with 44% and the Middle East with 53%.

Key Benefits for Market Report

Market Segmentation:

By Type:

By Service Type:

By Application:

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Offshore Oil and Gas Market Research Report Insights and Forecast 2020 to 2025 - Cole of Duty

Save America’s offshore oil and gas industry – BIC Magazine

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As our nation cautiously reopens and our economy begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the thought of a summer road trip has never seemed sweeter. Just having the freedom to take to the road and explore our beautiful country has an exciting, renewed significance for many of us right now. Once we get the green light and before our journey begins, however, we'll need to fill up our gas tanks.

Louisiana's offshore oil and gas industry provides fuel that makes our trips possible, as well as hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs that fuel our local, state and national economies. Now, the industry needs help to survive and continue to fuel our nation and economy long after this crisis has passed.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the global economy to its knees this spring, shuttering businesses, suspending travel and cutting worldwide demand for oil and gas to the lowest levels in modern history at a time when production levels were surging. U.S. crude oil production was, in fact, at an all-time high in early 2020, breaking records and contributing to our nation's new role as a net oil exporter. Louisiana's local companies and infrastructure have supported the production of nearly 20 percent of America's oil supply, 45 percent of U.S. petroleum refining and 52 percent of our nation's natural gas processing.

Then, that historic peak seemed to evaporate overnight as the pandemic extended its reach, demand began to drop, and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia contributed to a glut in the oil supply. We watched oil prices plunge to less than $20 a barrel and analysts predict a 20-percent decline in global oil demand in 2020, still too much for a 10-million-barrel-a-day OPEC production cut to overcome. Global oil storage reached its capacity.

The impact on Wall Street has been devastating, but the impact on America's future domestic oil supply is even more alarming. This economic crisis truly threatens the survivability of our strong domestic offshore oil and gas industry, thousands of small businesses who service offshore production, and the hundreds of thousands of men and women whose jobs are linked to oil and gas production. We must save America's offshore oil and gas industry.

On April 2, LMOGA appealed to President Trump to implement measures to help domestic oil and gas producers and local businesses survive the crisis by putting them in a position to recover and continue fueling our nation and the world once demand and supply stabilize. Without emergency policy measures, producers may have no choice but to shut in wells, accelerate layoffs and cancel contracts totaling millions of dollars with local service companies. Without preemptive federal action, the economic domino effect will be long and brutal, and our future domestic energy supply will be at risk.

One of the measures promoted by LMOGA is the temporary reduction or suspension of royalty payments on federal offshore leases to ensure a robust energy industry remains viable during and after the current crisis. A viable industry is not only good for the economy and our energy supply, but for coastal restoration as well, because production generates federal funds for restoration projects. The U.S. Secretary of Interior has authority to reduce royalty rates for economic purposes, and LMOGA has strongly advocated that President Trump, Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt and Congress make this temporary cut to boost production and future royalty revenues.

LMOGA requested actions including a three-year extension on federal leases in the Gulf, extensions for decommissioning wells, and the protection of pipelines and other infrastructure if limits to storage capacity necessitate well shut-ins.

I am convinced that our global economy will rebound once the pandemic threat has diminished, and then demand for oil and gas will soar. We need to ensure our domestic offshore oil and gas industry survives to meet tomorrow's challenges and continues to fuel our gas tanks, the national treasury, and jobs for men and women everywhere for decades to come.

For more information about Louisiana's oil and gas industry and LMOGA's work to protect and grow the industry, visit http://www.lmoga.com or call (225) 387-3205.

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Save America's offshore oil and gas industry - BIC Magazine

CEO of worlds largest offshore wind developer resigns – Electrek

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Danish green energy giantrsted CEO Henrik Poulsen has resigned after an eight-year tenure. rsted is now the worlds biggest offshore wind developer. It recently installed its 1,500th offshore wind turbine, in announced on June 11.

Poulsen will leave rsted by January, the company announced yesterday. The company is now searching for a replacement. He was previously an executive at McKinsey and Lego.

Poulsen said [via the Financial Times]:

Its been an incredible ride over the past eight years, and I have a tremendous amount of affection for Orsted, its vision, and not least its people.

Weve transformed a Danish utility predominantly based on fossil fuels into a global leader in green energy, which was ranked as the worlds most sustainable company earlier this year.

rsted plans to double its wind capacity in the next five years to 20GW. It employs almost 7,000 people worldwide, and had revenues of around $10.3 billion in 2019.

The Financial Times reports:

The companys stock has risen more than 70% since the beginning of last year, brushing off a dip in valuation inflicted by the pandemic and giving it a market capitalization of roughly $48 billion.

The Danish green energy company is growing its onshore wind business, too.

As Electrek previously reported on April 8, in 2013, rsted announced it would stop developing onshore wind to concentrate on offshore wind, but in 2018, it returned to onshore wind development with the acquisition of Lincoln Clean Energy. It completed its largest onshore wind farm, in Texas, in April.

rsteds onshore operational installed capacity has increased to 1.3GW. The company intends to reach 5GW installed onshore capacity by 2025.

It aims to reach 99% green energy production overall by 2025.

Poulsen transformed what was a fossil-fuel company known as Danish Oil & Natural Gas into Orsted, which is now known as the most sustainable company in the world.

He also proved that green energy can be profitable. Lets hope he keeps his hand in the game, as he has achieved remarkable things for the green energy sector and the environment at large.

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CEO of worlds largest offshore wind developer resigns - Electrek

‘Superfeeder’ design offers Jones Act solution for offshore wind developers – WorkBoat

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A Louisiana-based offshore services firm and naval architects plan to build a new superfeeder class of vessel to provide offshore wind energy developers a Jones Act-compliant system for transporting turbine components from U.S. ports to installation sites.

The 408x131x16.4 SuperFeeder will be a fully DP-2 dynamic positioning vessel, propelled by three diesel-electric 2,500-kW Z-drives and two 1,200-kW tunnel bow-thrusters, and capable of 10 knots cruising speed while fully loaded with turbines, foundations and blades, according to 2nd Wind Marine LLC, Galliano, La.

Developed by naval architects MiNO Marine LLC, Jefferson, La., the design is planned for two vessels to be built simultaneously, completed in 2021 to work on more than a dozen wind energy areas leased by developers off the East Coast.

They will each be capable of transporting one complete set next-generation wind turbine components from U.S. ports to offshore wind farm sites, enabling optimized construction throughput and the most efficient utilization of non-Jones Act compliant wind turbine installation vessels, according to a statement from the companies.

With early U.S. wind projects dependent on U.S. feeder barges carrying components to foreign-flag European wind turbine installation vessels and the first Jones Act WTIV still a few years away the time is right for the superfeeder concept, according to Joseph A. Orgeron, business and technology developer for 2nd Wind Marine.

Orgeron worked in 2015-2016 with Deepwater Wind (since acquired by wind developer rsted) to bring Gulf of Mexico liftboats north for construction of the Block Island Wind Farm, the first U.S. commercial offshore wind project off Rhode Island. Hes an advocate for the skills and experience that Gulf of Mexico offshore operators can adapt to the nascent East Coast wind industry.

According to the companys own mission statement, 2nd Wind was created as a vessel development, erection, and operations firm that intends to manage the design, finance, construction and ultimate operation of a two purpose-built Jones-Act coastwise compliant vessels capable of transporting (or feedering) of large, next-generation offshore wind turbine components from U.S. marshalling ports out to awaiting installation vessels during installation phases and perform specific O&M tasks in the post-installation market.

The vessels power systems will be primarily diesel-electric with medium speed Tier-IV engines. The hulls and superstructures will be configured to accommodate the coming generation of 12-megawatt and larger turbine parts Orgeron calls the design future-ready.

The design has the house offset asymmetrically to the port side, allowing more bow deck space to accommodate larger vertically stacked blade racks. Below decks will accommodate up to 60 persons, counting 20 crew and 40 offshore workers, in single and double berthed, MLC-2006 compliant staterooms.

The cargo deck rated to transport, and jack up with, 4,000 metric tons has a double deck, so changes in grillage can be easily facilitated without concern to tank and void spaces below. Each vessel is intended to carry a complete next-generation turbine set, including tower, generator nacelle and blades.

A unique Liebherr-designed crane, installed around a jacking leg with an offset-pedestal, will allow access to more than 95 percent of the vessels cargo deck space. Its lifting capacity will be up lifting each component of next-generation turbines from quayside to the cargo deck. With an extended boom variant, the crane will enable operators to change out blades at sea in the wind turbine arrays.

MiNO Marine developed its designed hull form through extensive engineering analysis using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to yield an efficient hull form suitable for a wide range of offshore operating conditions while also minimizing potential for flow induced drag.

U.S. shipyards have been engaged and are currently evaluating the design and preparing construction cost and timeline estimates, the companies said.

Speaking at the International WorkBoat Show in December 2019, Orgeron likened the potential of U.S. offshore wind for offshore operators to the cusp of offshore oil and gas a half-century before.

Probably 40, 50 years ago with the rise of the Cajun mariners, my dad was looking in the Gulf of Mexico and saw a great opportunity when the oil and gas companies said how much they were going to spend, said Orgeron. With the Block Island project, I saw then there was so much interest in Gulf of Mexico vessels, he said. There was so much more there for Gulf of Mexico operators to look into.

Join us for a live webinar on Thursday, June 25, where well discuss many of these topics and also investigate what the vessel supply chain capabilities currently are, what building a future-ready offshore wind vessel looks like, how creative ideas will ensure timely development and investment, and lastly how characteristics of the northwest Atlantic working environment differ from the European model and how that will affect vessel design and performance. Click here to register.

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Far-right Proud Boys launch dating site to help members repopulate the West – The Daily Dot

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Members of the far-right mens organization the Proud Boys, who bill themselves as a pro-West fraternal organization, appear to be on the hunt for long-lasting love.

With the help of the internet they are seeking companionship for their lonely members.

The group, which was founded by Gavin McInnes in 2016, launched a dating questionnaire to connect the groups violence-prone members with women seeking a relationship.

On the encrypted messaging app, Telegram, widely used by far-right personalities booted from Twitter, the Proud Boys have used it to solicit photos from women, while specifically encouraging admirers to send naked photos.

Weve been asked by many women to start a Proud Boys dating site. If you are one of these women and would like to meet Proud Boys in your area send nudes, boring pics, the newly published questionnaire on their website states.

Its quite the change from the organizational by-law implemented in late 2018, that places restrictions on wanking.

No heterosexual brother of the Fraternity shall masturbate more than one time in any calendar month, the by-law stated.

Now, theyre aiming to Repopulate the West.

The questionnaire on the site asks women to rate themselves from 1-10, enter their bra size, and let the Proud Boys know how much alcohol and drugs they can consume.

The webpage also features the phrase Repopulate the West, which is a phrase used by white nationalists to further their objective of maintaining the United States white ethnic majority.

Left-wing activists, whom they often inflict violence upon, are also welcome to submit their contact information for a date, if they feel like ignoring the organizations transphobia.

Antifa women, you are welcome to request a date as long as you have a vagina and have had it your entire life, the site touts, which has been circulating on far-right message boards. Please shave and shower before coming to see us.

Proud Boys members over the years have frequently encouraged violence against liberals and anti-fascist activists.

That was on display outside of Seattles Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), where members could be seen beating a man.

Members of the group have struggled to remain on mainstream dating apps such as Tinder.

One speaker at a Proud Boys rally last year exclaimed to the crowd: I may have been the first person in history completely banned from Tinder.

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*First Published: Jun 19, 2020, 8:31 am

Zachary Petrizzo is an undergraduate student at George Mason University and a Washington, D.C. based journalist.

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Far-right Proud Boys launch dating site to help members repopulate the West - The Daily Dot

A far-right group have started their own dating site and it’s worse than you can imagine – indy100

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Dating can be hard and as more and more people turn to online dating, its easier than ever to find something that caters to your niche interests.

Apparently, one group of people isnt doing so well white supremacists.

The Proud Boys, a right wing racist group mostly based in the US, have set up their own dating website. They admit only men into their group, and say that they believe that Western culture is under attack.

Telegram, an encrypted messaging app which is popular among alt-right groups, has been used by Proud Boys to solicit nudes and ask women for more photos.

Now, the Proud Boys have added a questionnaire to their website where they ask women to submit photos, information about their age, height and weight, as well as questions about their bra size and how much alcohol and drugs they can consume. In the questionnaire, they say that theyve been asked by many women to start a Proud Boys dating website.

In the questionnaire, women submitting themselves to the dating site are also asked to rate themselves from one to ten.

This isnt the first time that a far right group has tried to create a dating app just for them Donald Daters came out in the US in 2017, as did Righter.

These apps suggested that right wing people were discriminated against in the sexual marketplace - and that they were better off meeting people who already wanted to date right wing people.

The group was founded in 2016 by white supremacist Gavin McInnes, and call themselves a fraternal organisation seeking to repopulate the West.

Members of the group have been arrested for inciting violence at protests and in public spaces, and initiation into the group involves really bizarre rituals like being beat up by other members of the group while repeating the names of cereal brands.

Proud Boys have gained even more notoriety over the last two years many of them go to Trump rallies and fight left wing activists, and many Proud Boys were arrested after fighting at a protest in New York in October.

The Proud Boys previously had a by law which banned masturbating from 2018 and it seems like it may not have worked out the way that they wanted...

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A far-right group have started their own dating site and it's worse than you can imagine - indy100

Facebook takes down Proud Boys, American Guard accounts connected to protests – ABC News

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June 16, 2020, 10:08 PM

4 min read

4 min read

Facebook executed a takedown Tuesday of social media accounts connected to two organizations the company considers to be hate groups and had banned across their platforms: Proud Boys and American Guard.

Facebook officials told ABC News the company completed a network disruption that their security teams had originally initiated on May 30 against Proud Boys and the American Guard. On May 30, the social medias internal monitors started seeing traffic from both organizations indicating they intended to send armed agitators to ongoing protests sparked in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

We accelerated our investigation and enforcement to remove the accounts, pages and groups we had found by that point and then continued our work mapping out the rest of the network, Facebook officials said.

The company announced Tuesday its teams had identified more participants in those networks, and so took action to remove those accounts. In total they removed 358 Facebook accounts and 172 Instagram accounts tied to the organization known as Proud Boys. They removed 406 Facebook accounts and 164 Instagram accounts tied to the group known as American Guard.

In both cases, we saw accounts from both organizations discussing attending protests in various US states with plans to carry weapons but we did not find indications in their on-platform content they planned to actively commit violence, the company said.

A man wears a sticker that says "Antifa Hunting Permit" at a Proud Boys rally in Portland, Ore., Aug. 17, 2019.

The Proud Boys were formed in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, one of the founders of Vice Media, and while they deny any connection to the alt-right, they claim to be anti-political correctness and anti-white guilt, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC categorizes them as a hate group.

McInnes himself said he was "quitting" the Proud Boys in an interview in November 2018.

Many of the Proud Boys appeared as the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that ended in the death of a counterprotester.

Facebook said the accounts taken down include Proud Boys members who were captured on video in a skirmish in Seattle on Monday.

The American Guard, which the SPLC designates as being associated with the Proud Boys, is a fellow right-wing group. The Anti-Defamation League refers to them as "hardcore white supremacists."

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Facebook takes down Proud Boys, American Guard accounts connected to protests - ABC News

COVID and George Floyd: The CDC and Colleges Must See Institutional Racism as a National Disease – Evanston RoundTable

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After witnessing yet another inhumane murder of a Black man at the hands of police, rage permeated across the country. Smoke plumed over city streets populated by peaceful protestors, looters with varied motives, news media, and law enforcement. Mayors of Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, New York and more, stood staunchly behind the right to protest and the need to contain COVIDs spread.

Just two weeks earlier, and in some of the very same cities that saw protest as a result of George Floyds murder, throngs of protestors, a significant majority of them White and middle-to-upper class, poured onto steps of city halls to voice their desire that businesses re-open for the sake of the economy. These campaigns and protests appeared to take shape under the guise of an economic necessity.

In Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Washington, and more, some reopen protestors waved Confederate flags and held signs emblazoned with Swastikas. These protests were found to have been catalyzed, in part, by The Proud Boys, a racist yet savvy group of White nationalists operating in new ways to move the country toward a racist agenda.

It is hardly a stretch to see the images of looting displayed across the nations television and computer screens on May 30, 2020, as reactions to the same extreme white nationalists present at some of the reopen events. For it was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who noted: We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed; and later, after noting that white complacency toward oppression is the singular most dangerous threat to American society that a riot is the voice of the unheard. His point was not that rioting is justified, but the inevitable outcome of a society that continuously oppresses.

What King also noted and that is becoming more and clearer and dangerously true is that oppression occurs even by well-meaning people and institutions if they are not actively seeking anti-racist agendas. For instance, on May 29, 2020, The Centers for Disease Control hosted a nation-wide phone call with presidents and vice presidents of academic institutions focused on best practices to bringing students back to campuses while reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19. While the presentation itself was helpful, the majority of it focused on concerns that would be central to residential colleges, not community or vocational colleges.

The worries about protests leading to COVID outbreaks, bringing students back to schools are similar in their problematic frames. They not only see COVID and institutional racism as separate issues, but they also see a return to normal from a perspective that continues to dismiss the importance of focusing on those areas and institutions that serve communities that have consistently been attacked by institutional racism.

For instance, there is every reason for community colleges to be the foremost concern about CDC guidelines and federal funding from CARES act. For the students at community colleges overwhelmingly work day-to-day at jobs and live in neighborhoods of close proximitythey are particularly vulnerable to COVID. As a result, is clear when we consider the intersection of education, poverty, and housing, COVID responses need to consider race a lens that assists in prioritizing action.

But it is an American tradition not to consider African-American bodies and experiences as a point of focus. We know this from the simple fact that the killing of Black men by people in authority is a centuries-old practice. We know this because reopen protestors are voicing an opinion that puts African-American bodies more at risk. One has to wonder how many reopen protests would have occurred if COVID affected those using computer screens more than any other population.

Education, business, politics, COVID and the economy cannot continue to be discussed as separate entities. A common nexus unites all of them in an apparatus so strong and forceful, that we, an American culture, are loath to accept its reality: That nexus is a new form of White nationalism that is permeating the structures and thoughts of society more and more.

White nationalism has for a long while been, and can no longer be, misunderstood as a movement that is visible and carried out only by those with white hoods.The face of White nationalist activism is changing in the twenty-first century. And it is changing so quickly and significantly that the county is at a tipping point where it must decide whether or not it will 1) allow its inertia to continue and become further normalized; or 2) resist it fully in aspirations of delivering on the American ideals that most of us proclaim we believe in.

This moment of June 2020 is dangerous, because the activists of White supremacy are changing. White nationalist activists are permeating the very political system we rely on to progress us toward justice. June 2020 also represents a dangerous moment because, as my first book,Sports in the Aftermath of Tragedy,illustrated, Americans of the twenty-first century have short attention spans. Protesting equates to activism. But true activism requires sustained work. We are in a dangerous moment, because groups like the Proud Boys are infiltrating the power structure in a pervasive and long-term way while, as Yeats once wrote, it is the tendency for the best [to] lack all conviction, once the protests end.

Additionally, many Americans want to resist the truth that White nationalism is baked into the origin of every single institution in Americafrom higher education to politics to sports to media.

This is a truth that means White nationalism cannot be eradicated without intentional and ongoing attacking of it in a pervasive way. It has to be attacked in the same way cancer is in the body. Learning about racism does not eradicate it. Long-term, committed action does.

Institutional racism is eradicated though intentional, systemic obliteration of the norms that have made poor and African-American voices silenced over the centuries. Instead of thinking about how to bring students back to college campuses in the context of COVID, higher education and the CDC need to consider institutional racism as a disease, one that literally threatens African-American lives.

The questions about colleges in the context of COVID should not be how to bring the same students back to the same campuses. No, the question should be how higher education institutions place in the American imagination need to be recast to change the truth that race so often dictates living conditions and subsequent health outcomes.

The nexus of our social, economic, political, and education institutions in White nationalism is clear when we consider that the worries people express about COVID spreading as a result of protests throughout the nation are focused on the immediate rather than the underpinning history and long-term future. Those worries should be reframed to ask why the same bodies that are dying at the hands of police officers have a COVID death rate 250% that of Whites according to the CDC.

Although many of the people making decisions about and responsible for the manner in which policies are being made may be well-meaning, if they are not forthrightly and intentionally addressing the perpetuation of poverty and racism, the normal they will reinforce after these riots and COVID come to closure, will be the same one that has always threatened Black bodies while minimizing the risk for Whites. The institutions and mindsets will, in short, continue the work of the New White Nationalism.

Now is a fundamentally important moment. For politics. For businesses. For education. And for the American nation.

Now is a time we must transform how education is situated and thought about in terms of its ability to disrupt intergenerational poverty and the inertia of White nationalism.

Now is a time that we must work to disrupt the inertia of geographical separation of races and the conditions that lead to high death rates among African-Americans because of diseases like COVID or murderers like Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd.

It is moments where we, as a country, are responsible for disrupting the inertia of institutional racismwrote James Baldwin in Sonnys Blues. One of the most poignant scenes of this story is when his narrator is travelling through Harlem noticing the housing projects he grew up in and escaped from, but which many of his peers did not.

It is through real transformation of how we use higher education at the national level, through funding those institutions that serve people like those boys Baldwins narrator witnessed, that we can begin the true work of an anti-racist agenda.

It is through truly disruptive thinking that the normal we eventually return to can be one that begins the long-term work of obliterating racism.

Dr. Michael H. Gavin is vice president for learning at Anne Arundel Community College. He grew up in Evanston and is a graduate of Evanston Township High School.

This article was posted on June 18 in diverseeducation.com.

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COVID and George Floyd: The CDC and Colleges Must See Institutional Racism as a National Disease - Evanston RoundTable